Tile adhesive applying machine

ABSTRACT

A MACHINE FOR APPLYING DOUBLE FACED PRESSURE SENSITIVE ADHESIVE TO COVER THE ENTIRE BOTTOM SURFACE OF VINYL OR ASBESTOS TILES. A DOUBLE FACE PRESSURE SENSITIVE WEB IS APPLIED TO A MULTISIDED HEAD THAT ROTATES IN PRECISE ANGULAR INTERVALS BY A GENEVA TYPE DRIVE. THE WEB IS HELD TO THE HEAD BY A VACUUM AND TILES ARE THEN PRESSED INTO PLACE AGAINST EACH FACE OF THE HEAD WITH THE WEB BEING CUT TO THE PROPER LENGTH SO AS TO PROPERLY COVER EACH FACE OF THE HEAD AND INSURE EXACT REGISTRATION OF THE CUT PORTION OF THE WEB TO THE PARTICULAR TILE. THE APPLICATION OF THE TILE TO THE ADHESIVE SECTIONS ON THE HEAD ARE ACHIEVED BY APPROPRIATE CAM CONTROL. THE MACHINE CAN ADAPT TO TILES OF VARIOUS SIZE AND SHAPE.

April 27, 1971 w. E. STINE TILE ADHESIVE APPLYING mom NE Filed Aug-1 1, 1969 A 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 CAM CONTROLIL' SECTIONI REDUCER WAGNER CLUTCH MOTOR VACUUM SOURCE HIGH PRESSURE M CONTROL L2 AIR 1 CONTROL PANEL FIG.8A

VACUUM SOURCE PRESSURE AIR ISA FIG.8

NEW TILE POSITIONING CAM INDEXING CAM (STOP) INVENTOR. WALTER E. STINE VACUUM RELEASE AND BY .AIR APPLICATION CAM 0 I08 (QCMMJ 1M4.

ATTORNEYS United States Patent ()1 hce 3,576,695 Patented Apr. 27, 1971 U.S. Cl. 156-517 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A machine for applying double faced pressure sensitive adhesive to cover the entire bottom surface of vinyl or asbestos tiles. A double face pressure sensitive web is applied to a multisided head that rotates in precise angular intervals by a Geneva type drive. The web is held to the head by a vacuum and tiles are then pressed into place against each face of the head with the web being cut to the proper length so as to properly cover each face of the head and insure exact registration of the cut portion of the web to the particular tile. The application of the tile to the adhesive sections on the head are achieved by appropriate cam control. The machine can adapt to tiles of various size and shape.

Heretofore, it has been known that adhesive type vinyl or asbestos tile used in building construction for kitchens, recreation room floors, or the like utilizing some type of adhesive material applied to the back of the tile for instant application to the surface have been known. Normally, this adhesive is spread on having been taken out of a can, 'which tends to be Very messy, cumbersome, and does not provide uniform thickness. Other attempts have been made to place a pressure sensitive adhesive over the entire surface of a tile with a protective release paper. but this has been relatively uneftective because of the difficulty in application, the difficulty to obtain registration, and the great number of tiles damaged by the attempt to apply such adhesive with a machine. Further, it has not been possible to incorporate rapid production line manufacture of such pressure sensitive adhesive coated tile. A solution to these problems is needed by the art, in the form of a production line machine for applying pressure sensitive adhesive to vinyl or asbestos tiles.

The general object of the invention is to overcome the aforesaid and other problems of the present art, and to meet the needs thereof by the provision of a machine for applying double faced pressure sensitive adhesive in proper registration on a vinyl or asbestos tile, with a protective release paper which application is expeditiously and inexpensively accomplished, and is adaptable to an assembly line technique.

For a better understanding of the invention reference should be had to the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation in partial schematic of a machine incorporating the principle embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 2 is an end elevation of the tile supply structure associated with the rotating head or drum;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the supply tray of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional elevation of the supply tray taken on line 44 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 4A is a cross-sectional elevation of the supply tray taken on the line 4A-4A of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5- is an end elevation of the machine in schematic block diagram form showing the control functions associated therewith;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged broken away view of the drum illustrating the adhesive cutting roller associated therewith;

FIG. 7 is a greatly enlarged broken away view of the surface of the drum;

FIG. 8 is an enlarged cross-sectional broken-away view of the vacuum surface of the head; and

FIG. 8A is a schematic showing of the rotary connection associated with the rotating head or drum; and

FIG. 9 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the rotating shaft driving the head.

The machine to be described hereinafter will laminate an average of one tile per second, but can be adjusted to cover a production range between about three or four per minute and to about one hundred plus per minute. Based on an average speed of one per second, the machine will laminate four cases of tile every three minutes or about 90 cases per hour. The machine automatically unwinds a double faced pressure sensitive adhesive Web from a roll and cuts the adhesive web to the exact size to effect lamination to the tile in perfect registration with the ejection of the finished tile onto a conveyor or an inspection table ready for packaging. In addition to the machine having a variable speed, the machine will apply spliced double faced material without stopping the machine or destroying the tile. The machine is designed to accept 9" x 9" or 12" x 12" tile. The machine is essentially self sustained and normally requires no foundation bolts, and because of its light weight can be easily moved, and runs on 110 volt AC input and standard shop air pressure.

The machine is shown generally in FIG. 1 and comprises a frame 10 which supports a pair of rolls 12 and 14 of double faced pressure sensitive adhesive in web form. Essentially, roll 12 is the active roll and roll 14 the replacement roll to be fed into the machine when roll 12 is completed. This roll changing is presently contemplated as a manual operation, but could be made automatic in the same manner as the flying splice tabs associated with newspaper roll, and the like.

The web 15 from roll 12 is fed with its protective release layer down over a guiding table 16 and around an hexagonally shaped receiving head 18. The table 16 is preferably pivotally mounted as by post 20 and pivot pin 22, and includes a suitable weight 24 to normally urge the table to tilt in the clockwise direction and thus insure a tight stretch of the web 15 between the table 16 and the head 18.

The head 18 is preferably of the proper width and size on each of its faces 18a so that the web 15 fits in registration therearound so as tosubstantially completely fill the faces 18a when a web 15 of 12" Width is utilized for association with the standard 12" vinyl or asbestos tiles. Naturally, if it is desired to utilize the machine for 9" tiles as will be described hereinafter, the web 15 will be 9" wide and will have a 1 /2" spacing on the side of each face 18a.

The remaining structure of FIG. 1 comprises a tile supply and positioning station indicated generally by numeral 30 and a tile discharge ramp 32. The station 30 actually comprises a tile tray 34 with sidewalls 36 and 38. A pneumatic cylinder 40 cooperates to push the tray 34 upwardly into registered contact with the bottom face 18a of head 18 while another pneumatic cylinder 42 cooperates to position each respective tile onto the tray 34 as will be more fully described hereinafter.

TILE POSITIONING MECHANISM The tile positioning mechanism is illustrated in more detail in FIGS. 2 through 4. Essentially, the tile lifting tray 34 is driven directly by cylinder 40 driving plunger 40a. Note in FIG. 2 that cylinder 40 is fixedly mounted to frame 10 and positions tray 34 in exact registration with the head 18. The tray 34 also includes a stop lip 34a that insures registration of the tile onto tray 34 when they are placed thereon as will now be described. The cylinder '42 cooperates with its respective plunger 44 to drive a positioning bar 46 through the sidewalls 36 and 38 so as to position one of a stack of tiles 50 at a time onto tray 34 upon reciprocation of plunger 44. The stack of tiles 50 are received onto a flat plate 52 positioned between sidewalls 36 and 38. The invention normally contemplates that the tiles will be manually positioned onto this flat plate 52 by moving them against forward restraining members 54 and 56. In this way, the tiles are stacked in square aligned relationship with respect to plate 52 by means of the sidewalls 36 and 38 and the and members 54 and 56.

The plate 46 is slidably received onto plate 52 and is driven across the top of plate 52 by the plunger 44 with the arm 44a of plunger 44 being received through a slot 52a centrally aligned in plate 52, as is quite clearly shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. The plate 46 is slightly less than the thickness of a single tile, and hence engages only the bottommost tile against plate 52 and pushes this tile out from under the stack and into aligned registered relationship onto tray 34 upon actuation of plunger 44 with air cylinder 42. If in some instances the bottom tile will not slide out without moving the entire stack of tiles on top of it freely and smoothly, the invention contemplates that a back plate 58 might also be utilized that has a small slot 58a at the base thereof, as best seen in FIG. 4a which is slightly greater than the thickness of one tile to allow the sliding of only a single tile through the slot upon the actuation of cylinder 42 to slide plate 46 across the top of plate 52. The remaining tiles 50 are thus restrained from movement by back plate 58.

The invention further contemplates that the stop 34a will be adjustable for a 9" and 12." tile to insure proper registered relation to head 18. Also, the side plates 36 and 38, and back plate 58 are adjustable to allow accurate positioning of a 9" or other size tile onto plate 52. The cylinder 42 is appropriately secured to cylinder 40 as by plates 42a and 42b.

OTHER STRUCTURAL FEATURES In order to cut the web 15 to the proper registered size with the faces 18a of head 18, the invention contemplates that between each adjacent face 18a on head 18, there will be a small groove 60 that is best seen in FIG. 6. A cutting roller 62 appropriately driven by a cylinder 64 mounted to frame 10, and best seen in FIG. drives the cutting roller 62 across the slot 60' thus effecting a severing of the web 15 to the desired configuration. Note the position of cutter 62 in FIG. 1. This is the preferred positioning of the cutter allowing the web 15 to be tightly wrapped around head 18 before it is severed thereby insuring that it will not come loose from head 18 after the severing takes place.

In order to insure the tight wrap of web 15 around head 18, however, a vacuum source 70 is provided that draws a vacuum through the faces 18a of head 18 through an appropriate rotatable coupling connection with head 18. Each of the faces 18a actually has a plurality of holes 72 therein as best seen in FIG. 7 so that a vacuum is drawn over substantially the entire face 18a and thereby securely holds the side of the double faced pressure sensitive adhesive web 15 having the release layer 15a in position thereagainst. Thus, the exposed adhesive side of web 15 is positioned outwardly to come into registration with the tire received on tray 34, as will be more fully described hereinafter.

FIG. 8 illustrates the preferable structure where each face 18a actually is backed up by a vacuum chamber 74 with the vacuum being drawn through a separate connection 76 thereto. FIG. 8a illustrates the separate connection relationship of each of the faces 18a in schematic through a rotary connection 80 with the vacuum source 70. The rotary connection 80 also has the structural capability to provide air pressure selectively to any one of the 4 feed lines 76 to assist in removing the tile from a respective face 18a, as selectively desired which feature is utilized as will be more fully defined hereinafter.

The vacuum source also may be arranged to draw a vacuum on the guide table 16 over line 71, for example, as best seen in FIG. 1 to firmly hold the web 15 onto table 16.

CONTROL FUNCTIONS The control of the mechanism described heretofore is best shown in FIG. 5 of the drawings. It is coordinated by a suitable control panel that cooperates to effect drive control to a motor 92 and a high pressure air source 94. The invention contemplates that the air source 94 will be conventional factory high pressure air, and that no other special highpressure air source is necessary. A large shop vacuum will achieve the necessary vacuum source. The motor 92 drives into a Wagner Clutch Control 96 for cooperation with a gear reducer 98 to achieve a precise interrupted limited angular rotation to head 18. In the example of the six sided head 18 illustrated, this angular motion would amount to 60. This type of clutch control and gear reducer associated cooperation is commonly known to those skilled in the art and is generally called a Geneva type movement. In any event, a precise limited angular rotation to head 18 is thereby achieved.

The control panel 90 also sends a signal to a cam control section 100. The-section 100 cooperates with a plurality of cams associated with the shaft 18]) rotatably driving head 18. These cams 102 as best seen in FIG. 9 cooperate with three microswitches 104, 106, and 108, respectively. The microswitch 104 is designated as a new tile positioning switch and actuates through the cam control section 100 high pressure air to be delivered to cylinder 42 thereby driving a new tile onto tray 34. The indexing cam switch 106 actuates the Wagner Clutch Control and gear reducer 98 to effect rotation of head 18 to the next position. The vacuum release and air application cam switch 108 cooperates with the rotary connection 80 to deliver a short burst of air in place of vacuum to the face 18a one position past the downward horizontal position where the tile is placed onto the pressure sensitive adhesive so as to assist in removing the tile from that face 18a and flopping it down onto the chute 32, or conveyor system.

It should be noted that the indexing cam stop switch 106 is a momentary delay type switch that allows the air cylinder 40 to be actuated upon each newly rotated position of head 18 before it initiates the next rotation. The switches 106 and 108 are angularly positioned to operate substantially simultaneously in relation to cams 102 while switch 104 is positioned to operate between the angular rotations of the head 18, as is quite clearly illustrated by the cam positions with the switches in FIG. 9.

Two other microswitches 110 and 112 or the like are associated with the structure. These switches 110' and 112 as clearly seen in FIG. 5 also provide coordinating functions. The switch 110 is preferably positioned at the bottom left corner of the head 18 as is quite clearly illustrated in FIG. 1 of the drawings so that it provides an actuation signal to cylinder 40 through cam control section 100 when the respective face 18a has rotated to its new position. The switch 110 also simultaneously actuates the cylinder 64 driving cutter 62 across the respective slot 60 and thereby cutting the web 15 to proper size. The invention preferably contemplates that the cylinder '64 and its actuation through the cam control section 100 will be a true reciprocating relationship so that it drives out to effect one cut and remains in position until the next angular rotation of head 18 and then is driven back upon the next actuation by switch 110 to also effect a cut.

The switch 112 cooperates with the tray 34 to determine whether a tile has actually been positioned onto tray 34. The switch 112 provides a master control signal to cam control Section 100 and will not permit the operation of any of the cylinders or rotation of the head unless an indication is received by section 100 that a tile is in proper position on tray 34. This can be overridden by manual control of panel 90.

The coordination of the switches 104 to 112 through the cam control section 100 is a matter of ordinary skill to anyone acquainted with this art. Suitable Numatrol cams and switches with a cam control section are prefer-- ably utilized, although any equivalent switch would also be satisfactory.

OPERATING STEPS Hence, to operate the machine, an operator will manually roll out the double faced pressure sensitive adhesive from roll 12 with the release paper side down across table 16 and around the head 18 in proper registration. The vacuum source 70 will be turned on thereby holding the paper against table 16 and head 18. With the web in proper position and a plurality of tiles stacked on plate 52, the control panel will then be actuated to begin reciprocation of motor 92 and provide air pressure to the cam control section 100.

The control panel can be manipulated to manually control the operation of any respective cylinder as desired so that in effect, the head 18 might be rotated without effecting reciprocation of cylinder 40 for example to thus wrap the web 15 fully around the head 18, as desired.

However, assuming the web is in proper position and the tiles are in proper position, the first step automatically performed upon rotation of head 18a step is the actuation of switch 104 causing cylinder 42 to push a tile 50 into position onto tray 34. The positioning onto tray 34 actuates switch 112 and when the head 18 has properly settled in its new position, switch 110 has thus been actuated causing cylinder 40 to move vertically upward and thereby properly registering a tile against the pressure sensitive adhesive side of the web 15. The momentary delay of switch 106 prevents the indexing of the head 18 to the next position until cylinder 40 has effected this position of the tile and retracted. The switch 106 then initiates the next index of head 18 while simultaneously switch 108 directs a blast of high pressure air onto face 18a immediately past the tile positioning station. Since no tile is on this station at this time, the air simply passes out through the holes 72 and into the atmosphere. As the head 18 rotates to the next position, switch 104 again is actuated causing cylinder 42 to push another tile into position and the entire sequence is repeated. The only difference in the second step is that a tile is actually in position on the face past the tile positioning position so that when the air blast is provided by switch 108, that-tile is in effect blown off the face 18a and into chute 32. The chute 32 can cooperate with a conveyor or any type of tile assembling position for packaging or the like. As soon as no further tiles are present on plate 52 and switch 112 senses that no tiles are present, the machine is stopped until further tiles are presented to the machine.

The speed of operation of motor 92 and the interrupted angular rotation of head 18 to the six stations is controlled by panel 90 in the usual manner. Further suitable controls that could be associated with panel 90 might include a manual stop, a vacuum on-ofi, a single cycle switch, in addition to the speed control.

The invention contemplates that the motor 92 will operate from a 120 volt supply, and that any suitable factory air pressure for example 75 to 100 p.s.i. will be suitable to operate the pneumatic cylinders.

CONCLUSION Hence, it will be seen that the machine described above will laminate a double faced pressure sensitive adhesive to a tile with extremely precise registration, and at high speeds. The machine will automatically unwind the double faced pressure sensitive adhesive as a web 15, cut it to the exact size, laminate it to the tile in perfect registration, and eject the finished tile for packaging. In addition, the machine has a variable speed, and will not destroy tile because of the requirement for exact registration of the tile onto tray 34 before any actuation of cylinder 40 can occur. The ability to carry the extra roll 14 in effect gives the machine the ability to operate in a non-stop manner.

While in accordance with the patent statutes only the best known embodiment of the invention has been illustrated and described in detail, it is to be particularly understood that alternate conveyor infeed or exit or other minor modifications to conform with production line facilities, or other custom uses could readily be incorporated without departing from the spirit of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. Apparatus to effect lamination of an adhesive to a substantially planar surface of an essentially flat article, comprising:

a frame;

a multi-sided head rotatably mounted on the frame;

means to supply a continuous web of adhesive to at least one side of the head; an article applying station carried by the frame and positioned in exact registration with one of the sides of the head carrying the web of adhesive, said station comprising means to move one article into registered position with the one side of the head;

means to rotatably drive the head in precise angular increments equal to the number of sides thereof to move a second side of the head into registration with the article applying station and to move the previously applied article and adhesive web out of registration with the article applying station; and

means to effect removal of the article and its respective adhesive web from the head after the article has been rotated out of registration with the article applying station.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1 where each side of the head has a plurality of holes therein and the means to effect removal comprises means to draw a vacuum through the holes in the side of the head having a web of adhesive thereover, and means to selectively direct air pressure through the holes on the side having received an article for lamination after the side has been rotated out of registration with the article applying station.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1 where the head has at least six sides, each side having a plurality of holes therein means for Winding the web of adhesive snugly around several sides of the head, the means to effect removal include means to draw a vacuum through the holes in the sides of the head having a web of adhesive thereover, means to cut the web of adhesive at one of the corners of one of the adhesive web carrying sides of the head prior to movement of such corner past the article applying station, and means to release the vacuum on the side of the head carrying an article thereon after such side has been rotated out of registration with the article applying station.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,543,004 2/ 1951 Dewyer 156-521X 2,543,220 2/1951 Ardell 156-521 3,147,166 9/1964 Friday 156567X 3,198,044 8/1965 Clin 83-487X 3,312,463 4/1967 Van Hoose et a1 271--44X 3,496,817 2/1970 Staats et al. -1.. 83-487X BENJAMIN A. BORCHELT, Primary Examiner I. M. HANLEY, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 

